Rabbits poop 360 pellets a day

I started my morning the best way possible...with puppies! At Puppy Preschool, they have puppy socialization class once a day. I was there with 13 other volunteers. There were 7 puppies in class today and we worked on name recognition, being held, sits, leave-its, and some other fun things. The trainer, Tim, brought in a wheel chair and a vacuum cleaner, and also wore a poncho to help desensitize the puppies to things they might consider to be scary. I was partnered up with a volunteer and the puppy we worked with was Tweety. She is a really smart puppy who has her sits mastered.

Puppies in the same litter are named with a theme in mind. One of the litters are all named after cartoon characters - Tweety, Sylvester, Buggs, Elmer, Flinstone. At the end of class, we let all the puppies off leash for some meet and greets. The puppies kept going after Tim because they smelled the high valued treats he had in his treat pouch. They were very cute to watch. At one point, using his mouth, one puppy started to pull the wheelchair by a strap that was on the bottom of it.



After puppy class, I took one of the puppies for a walk. His name is JR and he is very sweet.. He's still at Best Friends for another week or so, but he's been adopted.

Then it was just time for some puppy socialization. We worked with Elmer, Tweety, and Sylvester. Sylvester found a lot of fun in playing tug with my hair, which was not so much fun for me, but all in all, it was a fun morning.



I left the puppy building early to go to a staff "moves meeting".  Usually at these meetings they discuss if there are any problems with where dogs are placed in a run. At today's meetings, they read compliments from the "Big Ups" box and voiced different adoptions that are in the process. There wasn't any talk of moving any of the animals, so it was a rather short meeting.


I spent my afternoon in Rescue Village. Animals who call Rescue Village home are currently around 150 rabbits that were rescued from a really bad hoarding situation. Many of the rabbits in R.V. have EC, which is a disease that affects rabbits. In one rabbit, Fargo, it means he can't move the back half of his body. He does have some movement, he can kick his legs, but he has a wagon-type thing to help him get around. A different rabbit that had EC has neurological damage and he runs in circles with his head tilted to the side. All rabbits have EC, but it is unknown why some rabbits are affected by it and others aren't. I must say, Rescue Village was the place that I felt it was busiest. There is always work to be done there and they don't get a super lot of volunteers. I started by cleaning out a few of the bunny runs and then restocking hay and filling water bowls. Rescue Village is a place where you do a lot of work, but there's not much cuddling with the animals going on. Later we folded laundry and got meds together. The staff there give rabbits "bunny butt baths" to wash away and urine or feces that are near their butts. Rabbits have paper-thin skin that can easily be broken down if not cleaned. I learned so much from the caretakers up there - Michelle and Jason - and I really think I'm going to be going back there more often.